POLITICS-US: Powell Marks Latest Republican Defection

The announcement by former Secretary of State Colin Powell Sunday that he will vote for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Nov. 4 marks the latest and most prominent, if not entirely unexpected, defection of a major Republican figure from his party's election campaign.

ECONOMY-US: No Golden Parachutes for the Working Poor

High-rolling Wall Street executives have won pay bonanzas in recent years while the lives of millions of working poor families have gotten worse, a new study shows.

OIL SANDS-PART 3: Biggest Customer Has Second Thoughts

As Canada's tar sands extraction expands full steam ahead, a perfect storm of internal and external opposition could derail some of the voracious growth at the world's largest energy project.

ECONOMY-US: No Joy in Hooverville

With a massive spike in the number of foreclosures and evictions over the past two years, communities throughout the U.S. have witnessed the sprouting of tent cities - many of them home to once middle-class citizens fallen victim to the economic downturn.

Q&A: "The U.S. President Is Not a King"

At 76, Daniel Ellsberg is still vocal. The man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1969, leading to the fall of President Richard Nixon, is speaking out this time on the 2008 presidential election.

ENVIRONMENT: A Green Lining in Market Meltdown?

Clean and green technologies may end up a big winner in the current global financial crisis, say investment professionals.

POLITICS-US: Much Ado About ACORN

As Election Day in the United States draws nigh, attacks from Sen. John McCain's campaign and its Republican supporters have focused attention on the activities of a national low- and moderate-income advocacy group, accusing it of everything from engaging in widespread, systematic voter fraud to causing the U.S.-turned-global financial crisis.

OIL SANDS-PART 2: "Where I Come From Is Ground Zero"

The wheels of the Caterpillar 797B, the world's largest truck, are always going round and round at Shell Canada's Albian Sands mine.

ECONOMY-US: Banks Reap Whirlwind of Govt Spending

The George W. Bush administration handed 125 billion dollars to nine of Wall Street's richest banks, but this will do little to help the economy that is crumbling around ordinary U.S. citizens, independent experts and activists say.

OIL SANDS-PART 1: Showdown at Ft. McMoney

The sun rises in a bright, red line over flat land, small lakes, boreal forest and peat bogs as our small double engine plane bumps through early morning turbulence between Edmonton and Ft. McMurray, Canada.

ECONOMY-US: Terms Secret for Bank Hired to Manage Bailout

The George W. Bush administration has hired a Wall Street firm to lead its 700-billion-dollar bailout plan, but how much the U.S. is paying the firm is being kept secret.

U.S.: Top Ex-Diplomats Slam “Militarisation” of Foreign Policy

While the Pentagon's budget has risen to heights not seen since World War II, U.S. diplomatic and foreign aid assets have largely atrophied and must be quickly rebuilt by any new administration that takes office in January, according to a new report released here this week by former senior foreign service officers.

CANADA: Conservatives Win Minority Govt Amid Larger Battle

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives will continue ruling Canada as a minority government, they are several steps closer to a coveted parliamentary majority after Tuesday's general election.

POLITICS-US: Judge Sides with Voting Rights Groups

A federal judge ruled Monday that the current practices to purge the voter rolls in Michigan are illegal and ordered Republican Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land to immediately stop the cancellation of registered voters whose voter identification cards are returned as undeliverable in the mail.

POLITICS-US: Bush Set to Go With a Whimper, Not a Bang

With only three months left in office, U.S. President George W. Bush appears increasingly determined to calm the international waters he so vigorously churned up, especially during his first term.

POLITICS-US: Palin and Christian Right on Abortion Warpath

Although the issue of abortion has not come up in either of the U.S. presidential or vice presidential debates, it is very much in play on the campaign trail, especially in a number of battleground states.

POLITICS-US: Foreclosure Victims May Lose Votes as Well

An alleged purge of registered voters, many of whom lost their homes to bank foreclosure, in the state of Michigan has prompted a lawsuit and calls in Congress for a Justice Department investigation.

U.S.: McCain Sinks on Economy, Palin Pick, Negative Attacks

Overwhelmed by crashing stock markets and what is increasingly seen by even traditional conservatives as a Faustian bargain with the extreme right-wing core of his Republican Party, Sen. John McCain's chances of winning the Nov. 4 presidential elections have fallen sharply over the past three weeks.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Florida Hopes Energy Farm Will Be First of Many

If an experiment to plant sweet sorghum in rural Florida and convert it to fuel ethanol pans out, it could herald a fundamental change in how the U.S. and other countries create and use renewable bio-energy, researchers say.

POLITICS-US: Voter Fraud Charges Echo Past Partisan Fights

The Nevada voter registration operation of a low-income advocacy organisation had its offices raided on Tuesday as part of an ongoing investigation by state authorities into whether the group is involved in systematic voter fraud.

ECONOMY-US: Shelters and Soup Kitchens Hold Crisis Front Lines

Wall Street may be in the throes of agony, but business is booming at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen a bit farther north in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea.